India poultry industry challenged by high feed costs

Industry representatives call for government intervention to bring prices down

The poultry industry in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh is facing severe challenges due to abnormally high prices of maize and soya bean, both of which are used in the making of poultry feed, according to the state's Poultry Federation.

The poultry industry is seeking government intervention to bring down the prices of ingredients that go into making the feed, hoping to stave off what the Federation says is the coming closing of poultry units all over the state. “The price of soya bean was Rs 18,000 (US$337.14) [per metric ton] till 45 days ago, but shot up to Rs 32,000 (US$599.36) suddenly, making it unaffordable for the poultry industry,'' said D Sudhakar, president of the Poultry Federation. Costs of both maize and soya bean have been rising for the last two years, said Sudhakar.

Another issue is that of export — a significant amount of the soya bean crop is being exported to Iran, said Sudhakar, creating artificial scarcity in the domestic sector. He also said the price difference between domestic and exported product should be looked into by the government, as soya bean is exported to Iran for Rs 25,000 (US$468.25) per metric ton but being sold on the domestic market for Rs 32,000 per metric ton.